UK Team Hopes to be First to Row to the Pole

To most of us it's unprecedented environmental upheaval but to adventurer Jock Wishart it's an opportunity. By some estimates the Arctic Ocean will be ice free by 2015 but Wishart and his team aren't waiting to be the first people to attempt to row to the magnetic North Pole. Casting off in late July or early August the six member team plans to row the 450 miles from Resolute Bay to the Magnetic North Pole (at 78°35.7N 104°11.9W / 78.595°N 104.1983°W) in a specially designed row boat.

The expedition website says that the point of the expedition is to "highlight the already dramatic effect of climate change on the ice around the Polar Regions." And while I don't doubt that the expedition will highlight the rapidly melting polar ice, The Independent's quote by Wishart feels more genuine.

"Because it's there, in the words of Mallory," he said. "Can you really do any better than that?